Last Summer
by Wendymypooh
Summary: Someone from Kid's past drops an unexpected bundle on him. This is a sequel to my story "That Summer".
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

Odella Hufstead rubbed her protruding stomach with both hands, trying to soothe away the sharp pains caused by the contractions. She let out the breath she was holding as the pain eased at last. Only when it had subsided did she try to move at all from her bed. Slowly, awkwardly she shifted her legs over to the edge of the bed and swung them over it before she began to maneuver her cumbersome torso into a sitting position. No sooner had she managed to upright herself than she was struck with another contraction.

This one was even more intense and lasted much longer. She waited the contraction out, gritting her teeth to keep from crying out and awakening her young son, Heinrich, who slept in his small bed across the room. She did not want to frighten him unnecessarily. She eased herself off the bed and into a standing position on the hardwood floor. She used the bed as an aide as she moved down the length of it.

Odella paused at the end of it to take her robe off one of the posts and slipped into it. She moved hesitantly, slowly, away from the support of the bed and toward the closed bedroom door. As she reached for the knob, another contraction hit her and her whole body went rigid with pain. She gripped the doorknob with her right hand as she waited for the contraction to subside.

When it had she opened the door and stepped out into the hallway and crossed it to the bedroom that her younger brother Oleson had claimed as his since his arrival on the farm since the previous summer. She knocked hard on the door and called out to him. "Oleson, come quick! I need you!"

No sooner has she gotten the words out of her mouth than the strongest contraction hit her and she felt her legs buckle under her from the intensity of the pain that swept through her torso. She gave a strangled cry as her hands flailed out in front of her to catch herself before her face and torso connected with the floor.

Her breath came out in gasps as the pain continued and she felt a wet, sticky substance escape from within her and pool out onto the floor beneath her. A strangled cry escaped from her pursed lips and she fought hard to keep from following it with another, louder, cry.

Despite the tremendous amount of pain she was in, her thoughts were on her small son and she didn't want to frighten him. She was about to call out again for her brother, when she heard his door open and Oleson practically stumbled over her as he came out into the darkened hallway.

"Dear God, Sister. What be wrong?" Oleson asked exclaimed as he knelt down beside her.

"Baby coming." Odella gasped out as the pain finally began to ease. "Help to your room. No wake Heinrich."

Oleson grasped her carefully around the waist and hauled her up into a standing position, then lifted her gently into his arms and carried her into his room and over to his bed and laid her down upon it. "I'll go get doctor."

He turned to move away from the bed, but Odella caught his arm. "No! Don't go! No time! Baby coming now!"

"There has to be time! Not doctor. Don't know how to help baby be born." Oleson told her.

"No time, brother. Baby coming now!" Odella gasped out as another contraction hit her.

Oleson moved to take Odella's hand in his. "Hold tight, sister."

Odella nodded, biting down on her bottom lip to keep from crying out. She clung to Oleson's hand as her body was wracked with pain and a moan escaped her lips. When the contraction had subsided Odella said, "You start water boiling. Need lots of hot water, scissors, and cloth."

"I'll get them. "Oleson told her, extracting his hand from her and exiting the room to see to the supplies that he would need to help his sister deliver her unborn baby.

It was a long, difficult night for the both of them. The sky was just starting to lighten, when Odella gave an exhausted cry and fell limply back against the pillows, as the hearty wail of her newborn daughter filled the room.

Oleson worked to clean his new niece, before handing her off to his tired sister to holde. Odella weakly took her baby into her arms, her mother's heart filled to overflowing as she gazed down into the identical cerulean blue eyes of the young man who had so easily made her love him the summer before.

"Dear God, sister, you're bleeding," Oleson's startled, panicked cry filled her ears, and hazily she felt him trying to staunch the flow of her life's blood easing out of her in a swiftly moving rivulet.

"Oleson," she said, hearing the tinny quality in her voice and wondering why it sounded that way, "I go soon to join Lars' da."

"No, Odella, no!" Oleson exclaimed hoarsely as his efforts to stop the bleeding grew futile.

"Ssh," she told him gently, beckoning to him to come toward the head of the bed."

Reluctantly, Oleson did so, wiping his bloodied hands on a towel, his face filled with sorrow.

"You keep farm and Lars. Raise your nephew in our ways," Odella slipped easily into their native language, wanting her instructions to her brother to be understood correctly. "Take Katerina to her Da in place called Rock Creek."

"I will. I swear it," Oleson vowed, the tears standing in his eyes overflowing onto his cheeks.

Odella's eyes, identical to his, were flooding with tears as well. She gazed down into the face of her newborn daughter and wept at all the things she would never get to tell her. She kissed Katerina on the forehead and then closed her eyes. Her arms went limp a moment later as life left her, and Oleson reached to take his niece into his arms, his sobs mingling with Katerina's wails, as he wept for the loss of his beloved sister.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Two weeks later…

Kid stabbed his fork into the last piece of sausage at the same time Cody did. The two riders' glared across the table at one another.

"Get your fork out of my sausage, Cody," Kid growled at the blond.

"I put my fork in it first," Cody protested, "So, let go of MY sausage, Kid."

Teaspoon stood up, eyed each rider in turn, before reaching over and cutting the sausage patty down the center with his knife, "Now you both have a piece to eat, so stop all the caterwauling."

As the other riders and Rachel burst out laughing, Kid and Cody exchanged sheepish glances, before sitting down and eating their sections of the sausage patty Teaspoon had cut in half.

Afterwards, Kid and Lou headed outside with the others to do chores around the station. They were walking together toward the barn, when they hear d a heavily accented masculine voice call Kid's name.

Kid and Lou stopped walking and turned toward the direction they had heard Kid's name called, to see a tall, blond man in dusty clothing walking toward them. The man carried a bundle wrapped in a quilt in the crook of one arm and held the hand of a small boy with the other.

As they watched the man walk toward them, Kid thought there was something familiar about him, but he did not know what. The small group was only a few feet away when the little boy raised his head up and looked at them.

Kid drew a sharp breath as he recognized Odella Hufstead's spring grass eyes shining out of the round features of her son.

"What's wrong Kid?" Lou asked, glancing up at him, "Who are they?"

Kid didn't have a chance to respond as the man and boy reached them, "Kid, it is I, Oleson. Do you remember me?"

"Yes. You are Odella's brother." Kid replied.

Lou was silent through the exchange. Her eyes widened at Kid's mentioning of Odella. Kid had told her about Odella and their brief relationship before he joined the PX.

"I come find you at Odella's request," Oleson said, "She asked me to bring you some thing."

Kid was puzzled by Oleson's words. Except for an exchange of one letter between them after his arrival in Sweetwater, he and Odella had had no further contact with one another. He wondered why Odella wanted to give him something now when they hadn't spoken in such a long time.

"What is it?" Kid asked, "How come Odella didn't bring it herself instead of sending you?"

"My sister went to join Lars' Da two weeks ago," Oleson stated, handing the small bundle he held to Kid, "She died having your daughter."

"My what?" Kid exclaimed, holding the quilt wrapped bundle close to his chest, despite his being stunned by Oleson's revelation.

Lou, too, was shaken by the other man's words. She gently lifted the edge of the quilt and she and Kid peered down into the cherubic features of the tiny infant Kid held. As they watched, the little eyelids fluttered open and eyes the identical shade of blue as Kid's gazed back up at them.

"She has your eyes," Lou whispered softly.

"I know," he said hoarsely.

To Oleson he asked, "What did Odella name her?"

"Katerina Odella."

"Katie," Lou and Kid said together.

Kid had told Lou once that he had always liked the name Katie since he was a young boy. He had even named his paint mare Katie.

"I bring clothes, blankets, all you need to care for her," Oleson took a canvas bag off his back and set it down on the ground, and then turned to go.

"Wait!" Kid reached out quickly to catch Oleson's arm, jostling Katerina awake in the process, "You can't just leave."

Katerina let out a wail.

"Let me have her, Kid," Lou said taking Katerina from Kid and gently rocking her to and from until she went back to sleep.

"I must go," Oleson tugged his arm free of Kid's grasp, "Have farm need tending. Stage leaves shortly."

"But…what am I suppose to do with Katerina? I'm a Pony Express rider? I can't take a baby on runs with me," Kid protested.

"You decide what to do with baby. I bring her to you as promised to sister," Oleson replied and without waiting for Kid to answer, he walked way leading little Lars by the hand.

Kid turned to Lou, who was quietly rocking Katerina, "What am I going to do?"

Lou glanced up into his troubled face and simply said, "We'll figure something out?"

Kid smiled at her words, appreciating the fact that she was willing to help him decide what to do with Katerina.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

"Let's take her inside. Teaspoon's still there and we might as well tell them together." Lou suggested.

"I suppose you're right," Kid agreed reluctantly," Do you want me to take her?"

"No, I've got her," Lou said as they headed toward the bunkhouse and went inside.

"Land's sakes, what's up?" Rachel asked surprise coloring her features as she took in the small bundle in Lou's arms as the two riders entered.

"Uh…," Kid stammered as he tried to find the right words to tell Teaspoon and Rachel that the baby in Lou's arms was his daughter. "I don't know just how to say this…"

"Just spit whatever it is out Kid," Teaspoon told him.

"Lou's holding my daughter…Katerina." Kid revealed.

"You're what?" Teaspoon and Rachel exclaimed together.

"Sit down and I'll explain."

As soon as all of them were settled around the table, Kid started his explanation. He told them about Odella, their brief relationship, and her brother's sudden appearance in town with Katerina.

"This is a fine pickle you've gotten yourself in Kid." Teaspoon commented after he and Rachel absorbed what he had told them. "The express doesn't hold with any rider having a family."

"I know," Kid acknowledged softly.

"What are you going to do?" Teaspoon asked, rising from the table and moving over to the stove to refill his cup of coffee.

"I don't know," Kid met the station master's gaze evenly, "I'm still trying to get used to the fact that I'm a pa."

"You better get to thinking on it." Teaspoon advised.

"Now wait just a blasted minute Teaspoon!" Rachel exclaimed, glancing across the table at the station master, "Last I recalled, you, me, and all the riders have joined up as a family despite what the rules say."

"That's different," Teaspoon protested.

"How so?" Rachel queried.

"We all work for the express," Teaspoon told her.

"Well Kid having a baby shouldn't be any different than me working for the express," Lou spoke up, "The PX doesn't hire women, but you've kept my secret so I can stay here with the rest of you and keep riding."


End file.
